Prime Minister at
the UK
Commemorative Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial
Day 2020:
Last week Mala told me her story, including the scene that
awaited Ian and our British forces when they liberated
Bergen Belsen almost 75 years ago.
I am lost in admiration for Mala’s courage and endurance and her
unwavering determination to ensure that we remember.
As she said to me, the Holocaust is unique, because it was
the industrialised murder of a race, of 6 million
Jews, of whom 1.5 million were children, along with millions
of other targets of Nazi persecution.
As Prime Minister, I promise that we will preserve this truth
forever. I will make sure we build the National Holocaust
Memorial and Education Centre, so that future generations
can never doubt what happened, because that
is the only way we can be certain that it never happens
again.
And I feel a deep sense of shame that here in Britain – in 2020 –
we seem to be dealing with a resurgence of the virus of
anti-semitism - and I know that I carry responsibility as Prime
Minister to do everything possible to stamp it out.
As we resolutely proclaim “never again”, it is right that we
should also ask what happened to our resolve in the genocides
that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
And as I stand here, in the presence of many of Britain’s
Holocaust survivors, I feel a special obligation towards the
sanctity of their testimonies, because nothing can compare with
hearing directly from a survivor.
I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to ensure these
testimonies are shared as widely as possible, encouraging the use
of technology so the tangible, palpable, irrefutable reality of
this experience is preserved as something not just for this
generation but for every generation.
In doing so, we will ensure that Britain never forgets the truth
of the Holocaust.
In the name of all those who perished, may their memory be a
blessing forever.
